Saw the movie at a late screening....and cheered when Rabin's name popped up in the opening credits, something I do usually to annoy everyone (I "try" to advertise composers to the crowd though they probably reallly don't care or just want to stuff their boot in my mouth).

Anyway, the score/music was terrific. It had a rather soft and emotional overtone during the non-racing/carjacking sequences, particularly when Memphis and Kip are doing their brother-bonding scenes. As for the action scenes, it was really upbeat and I was really surprised to hear hardly any guitars (Rabin's signature) but rather a lot of drum beats mixed in with the typical synthesizer melodies Media Ventures cranks out (I am not saying that in a negative way because they manufacture great themes on a mass production scale, and that's a great thing because quality does not get lost during this mass production) intentionally designed to make your heart pound and leave you on the edge of your seat. There's a tribal choir-like theme that recurs in the introduction and closing credits, almost like one featured in The General's Daughter (was that African folk cue by Carter Burwell or Greg Hale Jones?). I appreciated the fact that Bruckheimer & Company respected Rabin and gave him the fair (and majority) share of music time.

My favorite music pieces popped up during the surreptitously regimented carjacking sequences along with the chase that everyone has seen in TV commercials, the one where Cage drives in reverse and smiles to the kid in another car. Rabin really mastered the ability to make my heart beat a lot faster, and that was a good thing for the movie. The biggest surprise was that I even thought the regular rock/pop/rap songs used were pretty appropriate. I can't really compare Rabin's work to his other pieces or anyone else's because I am not just that exposed other scores of the genre, and I apologize.

There was a great scene that paid homage to the power of music, the scene where Cage says "Okay... let's ride" in the commercials.
Cage and his crew remain in silence as they played that "go...down...to....michelob dry(?)" song (not sure about the title, sorry if I botched it up!) as an anthem to pump them up and prepare them for the ultimate "boost." This scene was really great at showing how much impact music has in one's state of mind.

And I guess I can't leave out comments about the movie. It was simply written (don't be expecting Oscar material) and left most of the talking up to this "fetishization of cars" syndrome that Nicolas Cage and his gang obsesses over, which I though the movie did really well to reflect that. There's also the batch of one-liners (sometimes funny other times unnoticeable) that I assume Bruckheimer loves in all of his summer releases.

The audience gave a tremendous ovation for the climax of the aforementioned chase with Cage, as he "flew" with the Shelby 600. I thought the crowd complemented really well with the movie, something I haven't been able to experience for way too long.

I may not like cars, but I really understood the characters' affection for cars, as I took that to be the main ideology of the film. Overall it surpassed my expectations, and was a very entertaining and fun movie that made me feel very pumped about cars--despite my bitter history with automobiles--for the first time. Odd though, nowhere in the movie do they mention 60 seconds except showing a stopwatch in the introduction....or I may have just paying too much attention to the music not to have heard it.

Oh yeah, if the anti-Media Ventures belligerants or anyone else who doesn't like Rabin's work are going to start a Rabin bashing, please start under another topic.

P.S. So no one has heard of a possible score release? Shucks. The closing credits indicated only the regular soundtrack release on Island Records, but was that not the case with Armageddon as well?

In fact there is a scene where cage talks to (I forget) and the music stops when he pauses and picks up when he finishes his sentece. Simply superb. I will get the score without hesitation.

quote:

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Originally posted by sean:
Is the score in the film better than the lame track on the OST?

NP: Ride With The Devil (Mychael Danna) ****/*****

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Actually the first minute of that track plays through out the film, but I never did hear the second half.

NP- Best Laid Plans - Craig Armstrong